Mission: Fifth Marauder
A/N: This is a story about how the Harry Potter world as we know it would have changed if there were not four, but five Marauders. This is the tale of their many adventures, told from the point of view of one Harry Conners, up until the end. The tale of five brothers with a keen taste for adventure, for friendship, and for victory. A brotherhood they believed would be together forever, but would ultimately end in tragedy. This is their story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Harry and Sam Conners, and a few other characters I needed to use to fill up the year the Marauders are in.
"I'll be fine, mum," insisted a rather lanky, skinny boy with messy chocolate brown hair and light blue eyes. "Honestly, Sam and I'll be just fine, I'll look after her, promise." The said girl, who's black hair fell in neat ringlets down to her waist, huffed in annoyance.
"I don't need protecting, Harry," she said, sticking her tongue out at her twin brother. There mother made a clucking noise, and scooped them into a large hug, and the twins found themselves covered in her long, chocolate brown hair.
"Just stay safe, darlings, alright?" she said, her dark blue eyes, the eyes that had been passed down to her daughter, filling with tears. The twins were the perfect mixture of their parents. Harry had his late father's eyes, and his mother's hair; while Sam had her mother's eyes and her father's hair. Said father had died several months earlier, in July, before he'd even known his children were magical.
Magical. It was a word that, before the previous month, Harry had thought was a load of rubbish, and just a mere child's tale. How wrong he was. Now, he was being thrown into the magical world, and had absolutely no idea what would become of him, at all. Just then, he heard the whistle of the scarlet train, and gave his mother one last hug, before pulling his trunk, owl, and sister inside the train. The owl in question, Lunetier, was a spectacled owl, which Harry found ironic, as he had his own glasses. They were squarish-shaped with little horn-like rims.
"Let's go in this one," he suggested, pointing to a compartment that was currently housing only a small, slightly pudgy, mousy-blond-haired boy with watery blue eyes. He squeaked in fright as they entered, and looked scared out of his skin to be going to Hogwarts.
"Hello," said Harry, holding out a hand. "My name's Harry Conners, and this is my twin sister, Sam. We're muggleborn, nice to meet you." The mousy-haired boy smiled at the Harry's friendliness, and shook his hand, already warming up to the muggleborn boy.
"My name's Peter, Peter Pettigrew," he said, smiling again. He suddenly looked fretful, eyeing Lunetier and Sam's owl, a Saw-Whet named Anastasia, suspiciously. "They're not hungry, are they?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "I've got a rat, see, his name's Remmy." At the sound of his name, a white-and-grey mouse popped out from Peter's pocket.
"No," said Sam, entering the conversation. "We've taught Lunetier and Anastasia that if a rodent is in the possession of a human, it isn't prey." Peter looked re-assured, and smiled at them again. Suddenly, a taller girl who appeared their age with long, blond hair and light blue eyes walked into their compartment, smiling warmly at them; Sam in particular.
"Have you seen a toad?" she asked. "A boy named Frank Longbottom's lost one." They shook their heads, and she made a 'tsk' noise. She held out her hand to Sam.
"Marlene McKinnon," she introduced herself. "And you are?" The question was directed at everyone in the compartment.
"Sam Conners," said Sam, smiling. "The brown-haired skinny little scoundrel over there is my twin, Harry, and that's Peter Pettigrew."
"Scoundrel, you say?" laughed Marlene McKinnon. "Well, they'd get along well with James Potter and Sirius Black, an unlikely pair if you ask me. They've already managed to drive Dorcas, Mary and Emmaline mad, not to mention the other muggleborn, Lily, I think her name is. They also made two second year Gryffindors, Alice and Hestia, pretty mad." She suddenly realized she was rambling.
"You can come sit with the girls and I," she offered to Sam. "I'll send the boys your way." She then led Sam away, and a boy with sandy-brown hair and olive colored eyes walked sheepishly into their compartment. There were bags under his eyes, and he looked sickly, and a little worse-for-wear.
"Do you mind?" he asked them. They shook their heads 'no' and he smiled fleetingly at them.
"My name's Remus Lupin," he introduced himself, shaking both of their hands. The boys responded with their own names, and were soon joined by two rowdy black-haired boys Harry could only assume were James Potter and Sirius Black, trudging their trunks into the quickly filling compartment.
"I'm James Potter," said James, grinning cockily. Sirius introduced himself in a very similar manner.
"Anyone up for a game of exploding snap?" asked James suddenly, pulling out a pack of cards.
"What's exploding snap?" asked Harry, and four pairs of eyes were turned on him, shocked.
"Sorry," he muttered quietly. "Muggleborn." There was silence for a moment, until Sirius said.
"Blimey, that must be weird-" he suddenly gasped. "That means you know nothing of Quidditch!" He and the other three boys enthusiastically launched into a description of the only wizarding sport, arguing over which team was the best and so forth. Sirius was a Falcon's fan, James was all for Puddlemore United, Remus favored the Appleby Arrow's, and Peter supported the Chudley Cannons, whom had not won a game in a century, but had once been a very good team.
Time on the train seemed to fly by, and James had purchased sweets for everyone when the trolley had passed by, proclaiming that Harry had to get the full experience of the wizarding world. Harry found that he favored ice mice over chocolate frogs, the skittering little creatures creating a cool, minty flavor in his mouth.
Later on in the train ride, several packages of Bertie Blott's Every Flavoured Beans were opened and spewed into a large pile on the table in the center of the compartment.
"Alright," said James. "We each have to eat one, going in a circle, and tell everyone what flavour it is, but we can't look when we choose, it has to be completely random." Sirius, ever the bold one, decided to go first, closed his eyes and fished around in the pile for a moment before pulling out a white bean. He chewed thoughtfully, then sighed in relief.
"Coconut," he said. "I am so glad it wasn't rotten egg flavoured, those are nasty." He shuddered, and then it was James' turn. He pulled out a green bean, and scrunched up his nose in disgust when he tasted it.
"Bleeragh! Sprouts!" Remus went next, eating a pepper flavoured bean, then Peter ate a soap flavoured bean. Finally, it was Harry's turn, and he fished around until he pulled out a yellow-and-brown bean and smirked victoriously.
"Marshmallow!" he said, still grinning. The boys continued on with their game, and Harry had the best luck out of them all, only getting normal flavoured beans, such as marshmallow, cherry, strawberry, banana, chocolate and peppermint. All too soon, the train was pulling up to the station, and the boys hopped out of the trains.
"Fir' years o'er here! Firs' years o'er here!" boomed a giant of a man, with an even bigger, bushier beard. Harry and Peter both cowered in fear at first, but James assured them Hagrid, a family friend, was the kindest person you'd ever meet.
The boat ride to the castle was interesting, to say the least, as Peter almost fell out of the boat in fear when he saw a giant tentacle, which they then found out belonged to the Giant Squid. The castle was magnificent, better than Harry would have ever imagined, and magical aura practically radiated off of it.
Once they were in the entrance hall, waiting for the doors to the Great Hall to be opened, Harry reunited with his sister, and they smiled nervously at each other. Peter stuck close to his newfound friend, and Harry found his sister in the company of the blond, Marlene, and a redhead with brilliant emerald eyes. She introduced herself as Lily Evans, another muggleborn.
"First years, follow me," said a brisk woman in her forties, her black hair tied into a neat bun and she wearing emerald tartan robes. She was Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration professor, and she quickly pulled on her black pointed wizards hat before leading the anxious first years into the hall. Harry was surprised to find a tattered beat-up looking old black hat sitting on a three legged school in front of all the students.
Harry was even more surprised, however, when the 'Sorting Hat' opened it's mouth and began to sing. A hat. Singing. What exactly had he just gotten himself into? Once the hat had finished its song, and everyone in the hall had clapped, McGonagall spoke.
"When I call your name, you will come forward, sit on the stool, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." She unraveled the long piece of parchment and read off the first name.
"Black, Sirius." Harry looked at Peter, then Remus, James and finally Sirius, who'd gone pale. The Slytherins, in particular, were gazing at him with interest. The hat was on his head for barely three seconds before it proclaimed: "GRYFFINDOR!" The hall was in shock, and then the Gryffindors erupted in cheers. It was not every day you saw the heir of a prominent wizarding family get sorted, less to Gryffindor of all places.
Sirius was beaming from ear to ear, shooting a thumbs up to all of his new friends. Harry gulped, he knew he would be next. Sure enough, McGonagall called out:
"Conners, Harry." Harry walked forward tentatively, Peter giving him a reassuring smile as he walked forward towards the Sorting Hat, wanting desperately to be sorted into the same house as his friends.
Hmmm, not bad not bad. He nearly jumped when the Sorting Hat began to talk to him, but calmed down, noting there was nothing to be afraid of. Not a bad mind, very loyal, but not enough so to have you in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Very brave, yes, very daring indeed, and slightly cunning. But you wouldn't fit in in Slytherin, better be: "GRYFFINDOR!" He heard Sirius let out a whooping cheer along with the rest of the house of the lions, and happily took a seat across from Sirius, who was grinning ear to ear. His sister soon joined him in Gryffindor, along with Remus, Peter, James, Marlene, Dorcas and Mary.
The nastier looking folk, Mucliber, Nott, Snape and Parkinson were sorted into Slytherin. Ellie Fairmont, Jamie Falcon, Terrance Patil, Daniel Quince, Reggie Roland and Annie Toland joined Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff received Patrick Corner, Matt Douglas, Amos Diggory, Macy Tanner and Katie Wimmer.
"Before the feast begins," said the Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore. "I have a few start-of-term announcements to make. This year, the Whomping Willow has been added to the grounds of Hogwarts. I advise you all to stay away from it, as it is a very aggressive tree and will not hesitate to severely maim you. Fanged frisbees have been added to the list of banned items, see outside of Mr. Filches' office for a complete list. Now, all that being said, let the feast begin!"
Harry watched in amazement as the plates in front of him began to fill with food, so much food. There were endless heaps of everyday favorites, and for some strange reasons, sherbet lemons, be he shrugged and placed a few of those on his plate as well. Alongside him, Peter was eating heartily, but James and Sirius were practically inhaling every piece of food they touched, and Remus rolled his eyes. Harry noted that the girls were watching the two black-haired boys with disdain, and Marlene had her nose scrunched up.
"Honestly, do you two even come up to breath?!" Sam finally blurted out when James and Sirius were done with their third helping. "How do you manage to eat that much and remain so skinny?"
"High metabolism, Sammy," said Sirius teasingly. Harry gulped and shrank down in his seat as he waited for the explosion. Surprisingly, it didn't come. Instead, his sister's reaction was much worse. She burst out crying and ran from the hall, one of the older girls, Alice, showing her to the bathroom.
"What did I say?" asked Sirius, concerned. Everyone looked to Harry for an explanation.
"Our father passed away in July," said Harry softly. "That was his nickname for her, she gets a little touchy when it comes up." Sirius looked incredibly sullen and guilty for the rest of the night, no matter how much Harry assured him his sister never held a grudge, and it wasn't his fault because he didn't know.
"Alright, first year Gryffindors, follow me," said the Gryffindor fifth year male prefect, Adam Sandlan. He led them up to the seventh floor and to the right, coming up to the portrait of a fat lady.
"Superbia Leonis," he spoke clearly. The Fat Lady nodded, and moved her portrait to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room, plush chairs and couches surrounding the flickering flame of the fire.
"First year boys, up the stairs, first floor on your right, girls, same on your left," Adam instructed. Sam, who had returned to the group towards pudding, and forgiven Sirius, walked up with her friends, while Harry trotted up with his new group of friends.
Remus chose the bed near the window, and James took the bed to the right of his, and Sirius took the bed next to James. Harry placed his possessions at the bed to the left of Remus, and Peter took the bed next to him. Harry finally took Lunetier out of her cage and onto the well crafted cherry walnut wood perch he'd gotten for her. Remus' owl, Hype, was an elf owl, who had a much smaller chestnut perch, and James' owl, a large, majestic snowy named Blitz, had a large, white perch. Sirius had no pet, and Peter allowed Remmy to sleep with him, so all worked out. The boys made sure to leave the windows open so their birds could fly in and out as they so chose, and curled up to sleep.
.oOo.
"C'mon, guys, we need to get to Transfiguration!" said Harry, running through the hallways with his four friends. After pranking the schedules to sing that morning (a stroke of brilliance on Sirius' part), they were now rushing, trying to find their way to the transfiguration classroom.
"Minnie's going to kill us!" moaned Sirius, running alongside his friends. Moments later, they burst into the transfiguration classroom, wheezing, only to find to their dismay that they were five minutes late. Professor McGonagall looked up at them with stern eyes.
"What is the meaning of this?" she barked, narrowing her eyes at them.
"S-sorry, Professor," Harry squeaked. "We got lost."
"Then perhaps a map?" she suggested sarcastically. "I will not have you marauders interrupting my class again, understood?" And in that one moment, the five friends looked at each other, grinning ear to ear, and the Marauders were born, not to mention the inkling of an idea for a mischief making map was forming in James Potter's head.
"As I was saying," said Professor McGonagall, and she continued to show them how to transform a match into a needle. To her utmost surprise, James Potter just yawned, lazily flicked his wand, and his match changed.
"Well done, Mr. Potter," she finally choked out. "A point to Gryffindor." James smiled cockily, and Harry could practically see his head swelling with arrogance, and he just shook his head affectionately at his new friend.
The next class was potions, and the five friends had no trouble finding their way down to the dungeons. Harry and Peter were about to sit next to each other before a rather large Professor came out of his quarters and shook his head at them.
"Afraid not, boys, I'm assigning your partners," said Professor Slughorn. Lily Evans and Severus Snape were the first pair, sitting up at the front right in front of Professor Slughorn's desk. To their left were Dorcas and Mary, who had been paired together. Harry found himself to the right of Lily and Snape, partnered with his own sister. Directly behind him were James and Sirius, and to the left of them, Remus and Peter. To their left, Marlene was sulking, as she'd been paired with Charlotte Parkinson, and Mucliber and Nott sat together in the very back.
Harry surprised himself when he found himself to be extremely gifted in potions, and Sam thanked him profusely, as she was borderline terrible. Sam faired best in charms. Harry's only real competition in the class was Severus Snape, and Lily Evans appeared to be generally gifted in all of her classes.
The potion they were making, the Common Cure for Boils, was simple enough, and Harry had it completed half-way through the class, and Slughorn was beaming at him.
"Well done, Mr. Conners, Miss Conners, Mr. Snape, Miss Evans," he said to the four students who had successfully created their potions. "You'll simply have to come to my back-to-school bash, select few get chosen, I'll send you the invitations. Ah, you as well, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, Miss McKinnon." James, Sirius Peter, and Marlene all came from prominent pureblood families, and Remus' father was one of the top-notch healers at St. Mungos, the wizarding hospital.
Once they were out of the class, Sirius started laughing. "Oh, Sluggy, like I'd actually join his little 'Slug Club'. He's just fishing for connections."
"Then I wonder why he'd invite you, seeing as your family hates you," sneered Snape, walking up to them. Sirius growled and fired a stinging hex at him, which made Snape yelp.
"What do you think you're doing, Black?" Lily hiss dangerously. "Hexing people for no reason."
"Snivellus was insu-" said James, but Lily cut him off.
"You're just as bad, Potter, the both of you are arrogant, bullying toe-rags if you asked me." She sniffed disdainfully and followed after Snape's retreating form, and Harry was looking very much confused.
"I don't know why she hangs out with him," sighed Sam, Marlene, Dorcas and Mary quickly agreeing. There was something dark about that boy, why Lily didn't realize it, thy would never know.
The first week of school passed relatively quickly, and the idea that had been growing in James' head finally sprouted.
"Hey!" he said one night as they were planning their pranks on a list they had charmed to only open to the password 'I Solemnly Swear I'm Up to No Good'. "I have an idea!"
"It's a miracle," Harry deadpanned. "In order to have an idea, you have to think. Who'd have thought James Potter was actually capable of thinking."
"Bless my soul," said Peter, clutching his heart. "I think I might just die of shock!"
"Oh shut it, you two," James laughed, throwing pillows at them, which they skillfully ducked. "Anyways, you know how McGonagall mentioned us making a map?"
"You mean when she gave us our awesome nickname?" Sirius cut in. James nodded.
"Well, I was thinking we can make a map of the whole school, and have everyone's names on there with little dots, showing them walking around the castle, so that way we'll be able to sneak around without Filch or his stinking kittens, Mr. and Mrs. Norris scoping us out." Harry shuddered, he really hated those little kittens. They were kneazels, magical cats that took forever to age to maturity, and could scope out people faster than mice.
"That's a great idea!" Sirius enthused, and the three other boys agreed, but Harry couldn't help but notice Remus looked very sickly, the light of the almost full moon shining on him.
"I won't be here tomorrow," said Remus quickly. "My mum is ill, and I want to go see her." Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously, he may be muggleborn, but he was very smart, and he put two and two together. He just needed proof, if Remus disappeared the next full moon, he would tell the others and confront him.
"Give her my condolences," said Peter sincerely, and the other boys agreed, Harry putting on his best poker face, pretending he didn't notice anything. Werewolves, magical pranks, and insane best friends who enjoyed hexing a certain Severus Snape. Five months ago, if you'd told Harry that this was what was going to happen to him in the future, he would have laughed at them and told them they were insane. Ah, the wonders of magic.
A/N: Ok, so I think I'm going to complete this before I start working on 'Hair as Dark as a Blackboard' again. Expect updates for 'Replay' every now and then, but I'm going to make this story my main focus. Please remember to review!
~Sam
Mischief Managed